Eater (website)

Eater is a food and dining network of sites and brand of Vox Media. The network was co-founded by Lockhart Steele and Ben Leventhal in 2005, and originally focused on dining and nightlife in New York City. Eater launched a national site in 2009, and covered nearly 20 cities by 2012. Vox Media acquired Eater, along with two others comprising the Curbed Network, in late 2013. In 2017, Eater had around 25 local sites in the United States, Canada, and England. The site has been recognized four times by the James Beard Foundation Awards.

Eater
OwnerVox Media
URLeater.com
LaunchedJuly 2005 (2005-07)[1]

Description and history

The food and dining site Eater is a brand of the digital media company Vox Media.[2][3] It serves as a local restaurant guide, offering reviews as well as news about the restaurant industry.[4][5] The property earns revenue via advertising, sometimes displaying content generated by Vox Creative.[6]

Eater was co-founded by Lockhart Steele and Ben Leventhal in July 2005,[3][7] and initially focused on New York City's dining and nightlife scenes.[8] The blog was one of three comprising the Curbed Network, founded by Steele in 2004,[9] along with the real estate and fashion networks called Curbed and Racked, respectively. By 2007, Eater was receiving tens of thousands of readers per day.[1] After expanding into Los Angeles and San Francisco,[1][10] the network went national in 2009,[8] and covered approximately 20 cities and one U.S. state (Maine) by mid 2012.[11][12]

Vox Media purchased the Curbed Network for approximately $30 million in November 2013.[2][13][14] Traffic to Eater increased by 250 percent following the acquisition.[15] In early 2014, Business Insider reported that Eater was generating approximately 2 million of Vox Media's 45 million unique monthly visitors, according to the analytics company comScore.[5] The site began using Vox Media's content management system, Chorus, and producing more video content.[3][15] Steele said he sold Eater partly to observe Chorus' influence on the site. The platform allows Eater to enhance map, journalistic, and visual features, and improves user engagement via forums.[15]

In mid 2017, Eater launched a London site, the network's first outside North America. Eater hosted 23 sites for cities in the United States and Canada at the time.[16]

The 25 cities (and states) listed on the Eater website (1/2021) are: Atlanta; Austin; Boston; Carolinas; Chicago; Dallas; Denver; Detroit; Houston; Las Vegas, Nevada; London, U.K.; Los Angeles; Miami; Montréal, PQ, Canada; Nashville; New Orleans; New York City; Philadelphia; Phoenix; Portland, Oregon; San Diego; San Francisco; Seattle; Twin Cities, Minnesota; and Washington, DC

Programming

Eater produced a web series called Savvy, which featured chefs, restaurateurs, and sommeliers discussing dishes and cooking techniques. The program's second season aired in 2015.[17] In 2017, Vox Media greenlit the series Cult Following and You Can Do This for Eater.[18]

Eater and PBS collaborated on a six-episode documentary television show about the cuisine of immigrant neighborhoods throughout the U.S., hosted by chef and restaurateur Marcus Samuelsson. The show, No Passport Required, marked Eater's first television production project. Vox Entertainment produced the show, which premiered in July 2018.[19][20] Vox Media executives Jim Bankoff and Marty Moe serve as two of several executive producers.[14][21]

In January 2018, Eater and SB Nation aired an online three-episode celebrity cooking competition series sponsored by PepsiCo. The show featured National Football League players Greg Jennings, Rashad Jennings, and Nick Mangold as competitors, as well as chefs Anne Burrell and Josh Capon.[22]

Leadership and editorial staff

Eater was initially led by co-founders Leventhal and Steele, who had the titles "Head Eater" and CEO, respectively.[8][13] Steele, who also served as president of the Curbed Network,[8] ranked number 34 in The Daily Meal's 2011 list of "America's 50 Most Powerful People in Food", for his role as a founder of Eater.[4]

In 2014, Amanda Kludt was named Eater's first editor-in-chief,[3][23] and Robert Sietsema was hired to be a New York-based food writer.[5][15]

Reception

Food & Wine has called Eater "required reading".[1] In 2006, the magazine included Steele and Leventhal in their "Tastemaker Awards" list, recognizing fifteen people who had significant impact on the food and wine industries by age 35, for their "ingenious" posts.[10]

The network's content has been recognized four times by the James Beard Foundation Awards, established to honor excellence in cuisine, food writing, and culinary education in the United States.[24][25] Eater received four additional nominations in 2018.[26]

See also

References
  1. Goldman, Adam (January 12, 2007). "Blog Wields Power in Restaurant World". The Washington Post. Associated Press. ISSN 0190-8286. OCLC 2269358. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
  2. Hempel, Jessi (November 11, 2013). "Vox Media acquires Curbed Network for $20-30M". Fortune. Meredith Corporation. ISSN 0015-8259. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
  3. Bhuiyan, Johana (April 16, 2014). "Food site Eater 'Vox-ifies'". Politico. Capitol News Company. Retrieved March 12, 2018.
  4. "America's 50 Most Powerful People in Food for 2011". The Daily Meal. Spanfeller Media Group. 2011. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
  5. Shontell, Alyson (March 13, 2014). "Vox CEO: Here's How We're Able to Get Tons of Traffic Without Gaming Facebook". Business Insider. Axel Springer SE. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
  6. Main, Sami (October 26, 2017). "Why Capital One Chose Vox Creative to Promote Its New Credit Card". Adweek. Beringer Capital. ISSN 0199-2864. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
  7. Oppenheimer, Mark (March 19, 2010). "The Optimist's Blogger". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. OCLC 1645522. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
  8. Druckman, Charlotte (October 6, 2009). "The Insiders: Ben Leventhal and Lockhart Steele". The New York Times. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
  9. Grant, Drew (November 12, 2013). "Lockhart Steele Curbs His Enthusiasm". Observer. Observer Media. ISSN 0029-7712. OCLC 50230244. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
  10. Krader, Kate; Tep, Ratha (November 1, 2006). "'06 Tastemaker Awards". Food & Wine. Meredith Corporation. ISSN 0741-9015. Retrieved March 14, 2018.
  11. Midson, Lori (December 1, 2011). "Eater launches Denver food site". Westword. Voice Media Group. Retrieved March 14, 2018.
  12. Goad, Meredith (June 13, 2012). "Now posting: Eater.com's new Maine restaurant blog". Portland Press Herald. MaineToday Media. OCLC 9341113. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
  13. Sternberg, Josh (November 13, 2013). "Why Lockhart Steele Sold Curbed to Vox". Digiday. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
  14. Spangler, Todd (October 31, 2017). "PBS Picks Up Marcus Samuelsson Food and Culture Docu-Series from Vox Media's Eater". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. ISSN 0042-2738. OCLC 810134503. Retrieved March 12, 2018.
  15. Castillo, Michelle (September 22, 2014). "Eater's Redesign Is a Test for Vox Media's Chorus Platform". Adweek. Retrieved March 14, 2018.
  16. Guaglione, Sara (July 12, 2017). "Vox Launches 'Eater London,' Company's First". MediaPost Communications. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
  17. Chariton, Jordan (April 30, 2015). "Vox Media Adds New Slate of Digital Series from Verge, Eater, SB Nation". TheWrap. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
  18. Jarvey, Natalie (May 8, 2017). "Vox Media Draws Inspiration From Editorial Brands for New Series Slate". The Hollywood Reporter. ISSN 0018-3660. Retrieved July 11, 2018.
  19. "Marcus Samuelsson showcases kitchens of America's immigrants in "No Passport Required"". CBS News. July 6, 2018. Retrieved July 11, 2018.
  20. Cain, Brooke (July 10, 2018). "What to Watch on Tuesday: Samuelsson series transports foodies, 'No Passport Required'". The News & Observer. The McClatchy Company. Retrieved July 11, 2018.
  21. Jarvey, Natalie (October 31, 2017). "PBS Orders Food Series 'No Passport Required' From Vox Media". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
  22. Bennett, Bennett (January 11, 2018). "Vox Creative and PepsiCo tackle cooking competitions with NFL stars in 'Game Day Grub Match'". The Drum. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
  23. Vora, Shivani (February 2, 2018). "How Amanda Kludt, Editor in Chief of Eater, Spends Her Sundays". The New York Times. Retrieved April 9, 2018.
  24. Rudulph, Heather Wood (October 31, 2016). "Get That Life: How I Became the Editor-in-Chief of Eater". Cosmopolitan. Hearst Communications. ISSN 0010-9541. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
  25. James Beard Foundation Awards: * "The 2015 James Beard Award Winners!". James Beard Foundation. May 4, 2015. Retrieved April 9, 2018. * "The 2016 James Beard Award Winners!". James Beard Foundation. May 2, 2016. Retrieved April 9, 2018.
  26. "The 2018 James Beard Award Nominees". March 14, 2018. Retrieved April 9, 2018.
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